Textile machine



Jan. 28, 1964 T. E. PlTTS TEXTILE MACHINE Filed Aug. 28, 1961 INVENTOR. THOMAS E. PITTS ATTORNFY United States Patent M 3,119,571 TEXTILE MACHINE Thomas E. Pitts, Cranston, RL, assignor to Leescna Corporation, Cranston, RI, a corporation of Massachusetts Filed Aug. 28, 1%1, Ser. No. 134,189 3 Claims. (61. 242-356) This invention relates to improvements in a winding machine and, more particularly, to the provision of means in a winding machine for preventing entanglement of broken yarn ends with various parts of the mechanism in such manner as to interfere with or prevent initiation of the free end picking up and tying cycle.

In the conventional yarn Winding machines now commercially available, the yarn is Wound under tension from a bobbin or other source of supply to form a package. A running length of the yarn extending between the source of supply and the package being wound passes through and is acted upon by various yarn tensioning and servicing mechanisms generally including a slub catcher for detecting and preventing the passage of portions of yarn of abnormally large diameter. A yarn tension sensing element or lever is generally interposed between the slub catcher and the package being wound and is normally maintained in an inoperative position by the tensioned yarn passing thereover. However, it is biased toward an actuating position and moved toward said position incident to loss of tension in the yarn such as is caused by breakage incident to actuation of the slub catcher. The aforesaid movement of the arm or sensing element normally triggers and initiates the cycle of operations during the course of which the free ends of the broken yarn are picked up and laid into a knotter where they are tied together after having first automatically removed the slub.

The yarn normally extends and is guided under tension beneath a pair of relatively spaced hold down elements and over the tension sensing element which is normally positioned between them.

It has been found, however, that when the supply yarn is broken adjacent the winding package while under tension the free end thereof tends to rapidly recoil or whip back. In some instances the free end may pass completely around the various elements of the yarn hold down or tension sensing means to be received in the usual yarn suction slot whereby it is held in a manner to maintain the yarn under tension and thereby prevent actuation of the tension sensing element.

With the foregoing factors in mind, it is a primary object of the present invention to substantially eliminate the foregoing types of failure of the pickup and tying mechanism caused by entanglement or engagement of the yarn free end with the various parts of the mechanism.

To this end I have conceived of a novel arrangement and combination of yarn hold down and tension sensing elements which cooperate With each other and with the yarn suction slot to prevent such entanglement of the free end and to insure that as an incident to its breakage and recoil it will be freely drawn into the yarn suction slot without entanglement.

The foregoing objects and advantages are all attained by the preferred embodiment of the invention as illustrated by way of exemplification in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a plan view of a portion of a yarn winding machine having the invention operatively applied thereto; and

FIGURE 2 is a side elevation of the structure shown in FIGURE 1 and also showing a portion of the hous- 3,119,571 Patented Jan. 28, 1964 ing which provides a pivotal mounting for the yarn pickup and transfer arm.

Referring now in detail to the accompanying drawings, the numeral 10 designates a suitable housing of the type which is normally interposed on the winding machine between a bobbin magazine and a winding mandrel whereby the yarn Y is drawn from a bobbin or other source of supply and moved across the flat upper plate 12 of the housing from left to right as seen in FIGURE 2, and thence wound onto a package supported on the Winding mandrel. Neither the winding mandrel nor the package are illustrated herein since these are purely conventional elements constituting no part of the present invention.

The fiat upper plate of the housing across which the yarn extends and is moved provides support for various yarn servicing mechanisms which are actuated for the most part by mechanisms contained within the housing It), the said mechanisms being conventional in nature and, therefore, not illustrated. It will be seen that the yarn is guided from the supply thereof to the plate 12 by means of an eyelet 13 constituting part of a general guide element or bracket which may also have a generally horizontal guide bar 13a secured to plate 12 and extending to and merging with the eyelet to guide a reserve free end of yarn Y from a reserve bobbin into the eyelet in accordance with usual practice. From the eyelet 13 the yarn extends between usual tension discs 14 and has a portion disposed beneath and normally engaged by a sensing pin 15 which is free to move downwardly incident to exhaustion of the yarn from one bobbin whereby to cause indexing of the bobbin magazine to bring the next or reserve bobbin into operative position, all in accordance with usual practice.

Normally, the free end of the reserve yarn Y from the reserve bobbin will be received and held within a suction nozzle 16 and from thence will pass over the guide bar 13a to the reserve bobbin so that the indexing action of the magazine which carries the bobbins may at the appropriate time move it into the eyelet 13. The suction nozzle 16 communicates in a manner not shown with a main suction pipe 17 shown in FIGURE 2.

From the tension discs 14 the yarn Y normally extends beneath and in engagement with a conventional waxing attachment comprising a disc of wax 18 removably disposed on a rotating shaft having a non-circular cross section upper end portion 19 received in a similarly shaped opening in the wax disc 18. It will be seen that the yarn passes between the wax disc and a supporting surface 20, thence in a longitudinal direction across a suction slot 21 which also communicates with the main suction pipe 17 through the interior of the housing 10 in a manner not shown. This suction slot 21 functions to clean the yarn before it is wound onto the package and also functions to draw in and hold the free end of the yarn extending from its source of supply in the event of breakage of the yarn. The slot 21 is disposed just in advance of a yarn hold down and guide mechanism generally designated 22 which is shown as comprising generally horizontally extending longitudinally spaced plates or bars 23 and 24 respectively, both spaced slightly above and parallel to a smooth anvil plate 25 located therebeneath. The lower edges of the plates 23 and 24 thus cooperate with the anvil plate 25 to define guide slots 26 and 27 respectively of substantial lateral extent which may function to maintain the yarn at the desired level while permitting it to freely traverse laterally back and forth while being wound onto the package. These plates 23 and 24 are both supported from one side only, viz., the left hand side, as shown in the plan view of FIGURE 1 when that figure is viewed from the left, so that the slots 26 and 27 defined between them and their coacting anvil plate will open laterally toward the right hand side, as is apparent in FIGURE 2. This opening of the slots 26 and 27 toward one side, viz., the side about which a yarn transfer arm 28 swings, is conventional to the end that yarn carried by the transfer arm 28 at its free end may be moved laterally into the open end guide slots 26 and 27 incident to the return or retraction stroke of the arm 28 as it lays the free end of yarn from the supply bobbin into a knotter (not shown). The transfer arm 28 in the illustrated embodiment comprises a pivoted hollow tube adapted at its free end to pick up by suction the free end portion of yarn across the path of which it moves. Also at the free end of arm 28 there may be carried a suitable knife or pivoted yarn severing means indicated generally as 28a having a follower 28b for engagement with a cam element 29. Actuation of severing means 28a causes it to sever the free end portion of the yarn which carries the slub, which free end portion will have normally been sucked into slot 21 prior to severance, to be thereafter carried away through said slot. This action occurs as is well known during the advance movement of the suction pickup arm or transfer arm 28 while on the return movement thereof the arm acts to pull additional yarn through the tension discs 14 and lay it in the knotter as well as into the slots 26 and 27 and beneath the thread waxing element 18. Cam element 29 is fixed on plate 12 by means of bracket 29a.

In accordance with usual practice the yarn is passed through a conventional slub catcher as is exemplified in the present instance by the blade 39 cradled in a bearing provided at the juncture of a reversely folded portion 31 of the plate 31a. This reversely folded portion 31 extends at an acute angle to its plate 31a and provides a stop against which the slub catcher blade normally is resiliently maintained as by means of the spring 32 tensioned between said blade 30 and a bracket 33.

The lower edge of the slub catcher blade 30 is disposed parallel to and yet is normally spaced above the flat upper surface of the anvil plate 25 a sufiicient distance that yarn of normal diameter may pass freely beneath it. However, it will be engaged by abnormally large diameter portions of yarn commonly termed slubs or by snarls or knots in the yarn and will thus be swung in the direction of yarn movement and toward both the anvil plate 25 and the guide plate 24 whereby to arrest the longitudinal movement of the yarn and cause breakage of the yarn at some location between the slub catcher and the package onto which it is being wound.

The several parts and their mode of operation as thus far described are all conventional and are incorporated in winding mechanisms currently manufactured and sold by Leesona Corporation of Providence, Rhode Island, and are also disclosed in various prior United States patents and pending patent applications owned by that company, including the copending application of Thomas E. Pitts et al., Serial No. 30,346, filed May 19, 1960, now Patent No. 3,081,045, and Goodhue et al. US. Patent 2,764,362.

Disposed longitudinally beyond the slub catcher blade 30 and the guide plate 24, in the direction of yarn movement, is a yarn hold down plate 101 and yarn hold down bar 35. The yarn passes beneath and engages both the plate 101 and hold down bar 35 as it is drawn upwardly to be wound into the package in the usual manner. The yarn thus is normally tensioned between the plate 101 and the hold down bar 35 through tension exerted by the winding action as opposed by the friction of the tensioning discs 14.

A yarn tension sensing arm or element 36 is pivotally mounted for vertical movement and has the free end 36a thereof positioned to move between the plate 101 and the hold down bar 35. This arm, in accordance with usual practice, is normally biased upwardly in any l suitable manner toward its actuating or triggering position as indicated by broken lines in FIGURE 2, in which position it initiates the yarn pickup cycle of the transfer arm 28 and the ensuing tying cycle or operation of the usual knotter mechanism to which the free end of the supply yarn is delivered by the arm 28.

Normally as long as the yarn extends across the sensing arm 36a under sufiicient tension, it maintains the arm depressed in its normal inoperative position. However, release of the tension as by breakage of the yarn permits triggering movement of the sensing arm to occur whereby to initiate the usual operative cycle of the transfer arm 28 and its associated knotter.

As stated above, in prior art devices it sometimes happened that the free end of the winding yarn would, when a break occurred, snap back under the tension sensing arm 36a and be picked up in the suction slot 21. This would result in the arm 36a being held down thus preventing the actuation of the cycling mechanism.

In the present invention yarn hold down bar 35, the free end 36a of tension sensing arm 36 and yarn hold down plate 101 are all shaped to cause a length of yarn which has snapped back to be picked up by suction slot 21 to be drawn free by the suction so that arm 36 will be free to lift to actuate the piece up" cycle. To this end the rearmost surfaces of these three elements, i.e., the surfaces nearest the winding package, are all curved and all slope forwardly from left to right. The slopes or curves of elements 161, 36a and 35 are concentric with each other but are not concentric with suction slot 21. As these three elements curve forwardly they also curve or spiral inwardly toward said slot 21. It will, therefore, be seen that when the broken end of the strand Y snaps back around any one of the elements 101, 36a or 35 and is picked up by suction slot 21 the tension on the strand, brought about by the suction in slot 21, will cause the loop of yarn to slide down to the right whichever of the three elements is entangled far enough to permit free actuation of sensing lever 36. When the loop is around plate 101 or sensing arm 36a such movement will cause it to drop off the right hand ends thereof. When the loop thus drops off the entangled element it is drawn into suction slot 21 thus freeing arm 36. When the loop is around bar 35 such movement will take it past the end of arm 36a.

In the event it is desired to prevent yarn from wrapping around hold down bar 35 and becoming entrained in suction slot 21 a vertically extending plate, not shown, can be fixed to said bar to serve as a baffie to prevent the yarn from snapping forwardly.

In this application I have shown and described only the preferred embodiment of the invention though it will be readily apparent that the invention is capable of other and difierent embodiments and that its various details may be modified in obvious respects, all without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a winding machine of the type wherein a strand of yarn is advanced from a supply source to a take-up unit, the improvement therein comprising:

(a) a member interposed between the supply souFce and the take-up unit and forwardly of said take-up unit for applying tension to the advancing strand of yarn,

(b) suction means positioned intermediate said member and said take-up unit and arranged to seize the end of said strand of yarn extending from the supply source when said strand breaks between said suction means and said take-up unit,

(c) sensing means for indicating a break in said strand of yarn,

(I) said sensing means including a sensing lever disposed between said suction means and said take-up unit,

(2) said sensing lever having a forwardly curved yarn engaging end portion eccentric to said suction means,

whereby upon breakage of said strand of yarn between said sensing lever and said take-up unit the end of said strand extending from said supply source which has recoiled upon release of tension and become wrapped about said sensing lever is caused to slide from said lever as said strand end is seized by said suction means.

2. In a winding machine of the type wherein a strand of yarn is advanced from a supply source to a take-up unit, the improvement therein comprising:

(a) a member interposed between the supply source and the take-up unit and forwardly of said take-up unit for applying tension to the advancing strand of yarn,

(b) suction means positioned intermediate said memher and said take-up unit and arranged to seize the end of said strand of yarn extending from the supply source when said strand breaks between said suction means and said take-up unit,

() hold down means disposed between said suction means and said take-up unit for guiding said strand of yarn,

( 1) said hold down means having a forwardly curved yarn engaging end portion eccentric to said suction means,

whereby upon breakage of said strand of yarn between said hold down means and said take-up unit the end of said strand extending from said supply source which has recoiled upon release of tension and become Wrapped about said hold down means is caused to slide from said last mentioned means as said strand end is seized by said suction means.

3. In a winding machine of the type wherein a strand of yarn is advanced from a supply source to a take-up unit, the improvement therein comprising:

(a) a member interposed between the supply source and the take-up unit and forwardly of said take-up 5 unit for applying tension to the advancing strand of yarn,

(b) suction means positioned intermediate said member and said take-up unit and arranged to seize the end of said strand of yarn extending from the supply source when said strand breaks between said suction means and said take-up unit,

(0) sensing means for indicating a break in said strand of yarn,

(1) said sensing means including a sensing lever disposed between said suction means and said take-up unit,

(d) hold down means disposed adjacent said sensing lever and between said suction means and said takeup unit,

(e) said sensing lever and said hold down means each having a forwardly curved yarn engaging end portion eccentric to said suction means,

whereby upon breakage of said strand of yarn between said sensing lever and said take-up unit the end of said strand extending from said supply source which has recoiled upon release of tension and become wrapped about said sensing lever and said hold down member is caused to slide from said sensing lever and hold down member as said strand is seized by said suction means.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,405,792 McKean Feb. 7, 1922 1,424,124 Taylor July 25, 1922 1,844,010 Hasbrouck -1 Feb. 9, 1932 2,732,611 Planer Jan. 31, 1956 2,764,362 Goodhue et al Sept. 25, 1956 

1. IN A WINDING MACHINE OF THE TYPE WHEREIN A STRAND OF YARN IS ADVANCED FROM A SUPPLY SOURCE TO A TAKE-UP UNIT, THE IMPROVEMENT THEREIN COMPRISING: (A) A MEMBER INTERPOSED BETWEEN THE SUPPLY SOURCE AND THE TAKE-UP UNIT AND FORWARDLY OF SAID TAKE-UP UNIT FOR APPLYING TENSION TO THE ADVANCING STRAND OF YARN, (B) SUCTION MEANS POSITIONED INTERMEDIATE SAID MEMBER AND SAID TAKE-UP UNIT AND ARRANGED TO SEIZE THE END OF SAID STRAND OF YARN EXTENDING FROM THE SUPPLY SOURCE WHEN SAID STRAND BREAKS BETWEEN SAID SUCTION MEANS AND SAID TAKE-UP UNIT, (C) SENSING MEANS FOR INDICATING A BREAK IN SAID STRAND OF YARN, (1) SAID SENSING MEANS INCLUDING A SENSING LEVER DISPOSED BETWEEN SAID SUCTION MEANS AND SAID TAKE-UP UNIT, (2) SAID SENSING LEVER HAVING A FORWARDLY CURVED YARN ENGAGING END PORTION ECCENTRIC TO SAID SUCTION MEANS, WHEREBY UPON BREAKAGE OF SAID STRAND OF YARN BETWEEN SAID SENSING LEVER AND SAID TAKE-UP UNIT THE END OF SAID STRAND EXTENDING FROM SAID SUPPLY SOURCE WHICH HAS RECOILED UPON RELEASE OF TENSION AND BECOME WRAPPED ABOUT SAID SENSING LEVER IS CAUSED TO SLIDE FROM SAID LEVER AS SAID STRAND END IS SEIZED BY SAID SUCTION MEANS. 